Book Review: 'Harriman vs. Hill,' by Larry Haeg

Businessmen of a century ago didn't place 'competition' on a revered pedestal. Merger and monopoly were considered preferable.

By

Roger Lowenstein

Feb. 13, 2014 5:49 p.m. ET

Takeover wars seem to have lost their sizzle. What happened to the battles of corporate goliaths? Where have they gone, those swaggering deal makers? "Harriman vs. Hill" is a corporate dust-up that takes us back to the beginning of the 20th century, when tycoons who traveled by private rail merrily raided each other's empires while the world around them cringed.

The title characters—Edward Harriman and James J. Hill—though today strangely forgotten, were among the most powerful railroad barons in the country....